Aung San Suu Kyi calls on UK support to continue Burma transformation

Aung San Suu Kyi has called on Britain and other western countries to help support the fledgling democracy in Burma in an historic address to both Houses of Parliament.

Aung San Suu Kyi during a news conference with David Cameron at Downing St (Picture: Reuters)

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate said the present was Burma’s ‘moment of greatest need’.

She asked her friends ‘in Great Britain and beyond to participate in and support Burma’s establishment of a truly democratic and just society’.

‘My country has not yet entered the ranks of truly democratic societies but I am confident we can get there before too long with your help,’ Daw Suu Kyi said.

The 67-year-old’s speech at Westminster Hall saw her become the first non-head of state, the first Asian citizen and only the second woman after the Queen to address both Houses of Parliament.

The address is the culmination of a European tour that has already seen her accept a host of awards, including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, that she was prevented from doing so by the Burmese junta that placed her under house arrest for most of the last two decades.

She finally felt confident enough to leave Burma after being elected as an MP for the National League for Democracy party she helped created at the end of the 1980s.

Daw Suu Kyi said she had found her ‘extraordinarily warm’ reception in Europe ‘very moving’.

‘This has not been a sentimental pilgrimage but an exploration of the new opportunities at hand for the people of Burma,’ she said.

‘Countries geographically distant have been shown to be close to Burma in what really matters.’

Her speech came after talks with prime minister David Cameron at No 10 following which it was revealed Burmese president Thein Sein, a former general credited with leading the democratic reforms in the south-east Asian county, had been invited to the UK.

Mr Cameron said Daw Suu Kyi’s visit to Britain was a ‘great moment that few expected and few dared to hope for’.